continually eludes rational understanding, often brazenly so with each ending feeling like the twist climax to an entirely different game,,,on its own it might Explain Everything, but forced to exist with everything else it becomes a free associative nightmare with no bottom to the pit. and yet emotionally , it remains completely and constantly coherent...from the initially stressful Social Horror as u learn the mechanics, to the intimate horror of dissociation from the self, to the cosmic horror of the impossibility of quantifying a self at all...at least, not one that can be controlled by you. thank god you're Not you! you cant imagine anything worse then being you

laser targeted at at least fifteen of my mental illnesses

i might go back one day just to confirm my suspicions but the age old adage, "if the game's not fun, why bother?" is having me uninstall.

knuckle sandwich is an obvious labor of love with pleasant spritework/visuals and a great ost. that's all the praise i've got for it though. the worst thing that can happen as a "quirky earthbound-inspired rpg" developer is for a quirky earthbound-inspired rpg enjoyer to play your game.

on paper the idea of playing warioware-like minigames to spice up the monotony of rpg combat sounds awesome. in practice, it makes for even MORE tedium. get ready to play the same space shooter minigame multiple times even only in the first 3 hours. but i could stand a lack of variety if basic battles weren't unnecessarily drawn out because of this mechanic.

and i could also stand mediocre battles and gameplay if the writing carried its weight, but it doesn't. an interesting conceit is instantly tossed out for chaotic plot point after plot point, introducing seemingly unrelated characters and ideas that don't stick around long enough for you to develop any sort of attachment to. i fully admit that because i have not finished, this could change. but based on other reviews who share my sentiments even a quarter of the way through the game, i'm not optimistic it will.

simply put, i don't find it funny or charming on a base level, regardless of the overarching plot. it doesn't feel sincere; this feels like an rpg written and designed by someone who doesn't like or play rpgs. sweeping in with the promise of delivering your audience from the notorious tedium of jrpgs... but having padded battle times, mechanics that inspire even MORE tedium than your average rpgmaker grind game, a mind-bogglingly small inventory system (even smaller than earthbound's--that's crazy) requiring constant management, overcrowded dungeons that imply exploration will be rewarded (but it won't!), every kind of annoying dungeon puzzle you can think of... well, i don't know. feels like at some point you tapped out and were just going down a checklist.